Friday, August 10, 2012

Krueger Lacks True Common Sense (and Balance)

This was originally posted as a letter to the editor to The Albuquerque Journal on Monday, 30 July 2012.

In her "Up Front" column "Add Common Sense to Gun Law Arsenal" from 27 July, Joline Gutierrez Krueger attempts to stand atop the dead and injured of the Aurora movie shooting. The sad part is that in attempting just that, she stumbles from lack of balance – and common sense.

For example, she insinuates that higher crime rates in New Mexico are due to lenient gun laws (no supporting data was provided) – what does she say to those of us who say that the crime rate is due more to the something-for-nothing welfare state and Drug Prohibition?

What about Vermont, Alaska, Arizona and Wyoming, where people can carry concealed weapons without a permit? Why is it that crime rates per capita are lower in those states than in states with more restrictive gun laws?

She goes on to parrot a comment from Obama, who never understood the true purpose of the Second Amendment:

"I – like most Americans – believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms . . . . But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers and not in the hands of crooks. They belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities."

Remember that when Obama refers to guns "on the streets of our cities," he's really talking about the ones in your private possession. In the end, it doesn't matter to him whether you've committed any sort of violent act or not.

When they wrote the Constitution and Bill of rights, both the Federalists and Anti-Federalists commented explicitly that they wanted the civilian population to have access to the military arms of the day. Back then, that was muzzle-loading flintlocks. Now it's the Glock pistol, the AK-47, the M4 carbine, the MP-5 subgun and the MP7A1 PDW.

In much the same sense, the Founders never envisioned radio, television and the internet when they wrote the First Amendment, allegedly guaranteeing our rights to free speech and freedom of the press that Krueger uses for these columns. Should Krueger surrender her "assault keyboard" lest she write something that incites someone to commit a violent act? After all, the pen is mightier than the sword.

Finally, if Krueger's point – "guns cause crime" – were true, then why don't we hear about bloodbaths of the kind we saw in Aurora, at Fort Hood and Virginia Tech at gun shows and shooting ranges? Why don't we see hunters killing each other over that perfect tree stand or duck blind?